Crimson colors
by RememberTheDays
Summary: With war threatening Fairy Tail, Lucy is forced to hide her illness to save her friends. Although it may end up killing her. NaLu
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everybody! :D**

**So, uhm… I'm kind of new in the Fairy Tail universe and haven't gotten so far in the series yet (no manga read, and around episode 60 in the anime) so if I'm missing someone important, who could just fix the plot like it was nothing, then I'm a truly sorry x3  
P.S. sorry for grammar mistakes or words that doesn't mean what I thought the meant and therefore makes the complete sentence to something that doesn't make sense at all :/ xD  
Oh, and I hope they aren't too OOC…**

**Disclaimer: As everyone already knows, I don't own Fairy Tail, the honor goes to Hiro Mashima.**

_**~Chapter one~**_

"Gaawh, how many of these guys are there anyway?" Natsu exclaimed in annoyance. Lucy had to agree with him along with Gray, and even Erza seemed fairly annoyed at that point. They had assigned a mission, from some villagers who asked for help as the town was being terrorized by a gang. They had found them quickly in the woods, because of Natsu's great nose that had caught the scent of the client's stuff. That was more than an hour ago, and the team had been fighting them since.

"Roar of the fire dragon!" Natsu's flames made a direct impact on the gang members in front the four people and the blue cat. They all fell to the ground, smoking.

The team was tense for a mere second, before Natsu concluded that there were no more enemies to be fought by falling to the ground and letting out a small 'humpf'.

The rest of the team started to relax after another few seconds.

"That," Natsu said looking at the fallen men in front of him, "was more like a whole guild than a gang. Seriously, how can there be so many people in that group?"

"Stop mocking flame-brain," Gray retorted, causing Natsu to jump up from his position on the ground and give Gray his best glare, their foreheads pressed together.

"Stripper!"

"Squinty eyes!"  
"Droopy eyes!"

"Natsu, Gray," Erza said, making both boys freeze along with Happy, who drifted beside his nakamas. They slowly turned their heads towards her. Upon seeing the look from the scarlet haired knight they quickly threw their arms over each other, a goofy grin on both faces.

She turned towards Lucy instead, and both males started their fight once again, making Lucy giggle at their stubbornness.

"Lucy - behind you!" Lucy turned around at Erza's warning and barely avoided getting stabbed in the back by a flying blade, which instead made a cut a across her palm. The knife made its way through the air towards Erza who easily dodged it, before it flew across the space between Erza and Happy, who let out a squirm as he was dragged by the tail out of the knifes line, which instead hit a tree.

All eyes turned toward the owner of weapon. A man in dark features sat on his knees supporting himself with his left arm, while the right was outstretched; a proof that it was him who threw the blade. He smirked before his eyes rolled up showing the white, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Everyone was silent before Happy voiced out his complains about Gray's rough rescue.

"Would you rather be pierced to a tree than being saved?"Gray commented drily, annoyance showed on his face.

"But you didn't have to pull me in my tail," Happy wailed, making Gray roll his eyes.  
"It's not my fault you were too scared to mo-," Gray stopped himself as he registered the sound of no-yelling-Erza. His blue eyes found her beside Lucy.

"Erza it's fine, it's just a cut," Lucy tried to reassure the knight.

"We should probably make Wendy take a look at it, when we get back to-."

"Seriously Erza, I am fine. It's nothing, really. And besides, Wendy shouldn't use her magic on something so small like this," she smiled. Erza looked suspicious for a mere second, before she re-quipped into some civil clothes consisting of a simple t-shirt and skirt and ripped a strip of the loose top clothing, then handing it to the blond mage.

Lucy thanked her before she slowly rapped the clothing around her hand like a bandage.

While Lucy bandaged herself, with Erza and Gray looking, and Happy still complaining about how his tail now hurt, nobody noticed Natsu who stared wide-eyed at Lucy's blood dripping from her hand. He turned his head away and gritted his teeth together; his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides.

* * *

"For the last time, Happy, this is not your or anyone else's fault," Erza said for what seemed like the fiftieth time. After cleaning up the mess they had made in the forest, the team had started walking home. The village, in which the assignment was located in, was only two – three hours walk from Magnolia and to spare Natsu from his motion-sickness they'd chosen to walk back by foot.

Through the whole time they had been walking, Happy had expressed his sorrow about how he should have been there to help Lucy, so 'she wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place' as he said it. At first Lucy had tried to convince him of his innocence, but when it didn't work Erza had stepped in, trying to make Happy understand, so he would stop talking all the time.

"But-" Happy started, but was interrupted by Lucy this time.

"Even if it was anyone's fault, Happy, I would forgive them. When you go on missions things like this happens," Lucy said and truly meant it. No one was to blame for her getting hurt and especially not when the damage itself was so small.

The blond female smiled at the cat floating beside her, and his eyes lit up at her words. He made a small sound as if to tell her that he was glad that she felt that way.

As the cat flew over to Gray and Erza, who were talking about coming back to the guild, Lucy turned and found Natsu walking a little longer back away from the rest of the group. She stopped, waiting for him to catch up, before she continued now side by side with the pink haired dragon slayer.

"Natsu is something wrong?" she asked the boy. He was wearing a frown, his eyes looking thoughtful and hard lines around his mouth. She studied the features in his face, a habit she'd developed at some point though she couldn't quite figure out when or why.

Natsu slowly nodded; "The guy who threw the knife at you…..he was smiling even though he only scratched your hand with it. As if he knew something we don't," he said turning to look Lucy in the eyes. "Also, I should've been there to help you."

Lucy was about to blush at his intense look, but then understood what he'd just said and sighed in somewhat defeat.

"He smiled? Well….. but… seriously not you too," she said. "Happy's been talking about it almost since it happened, and, I'll say it again, it is no one's-"

"But it is," Natsu said with more force in his voice. "If I had paid just a little more attention I would've heard him when he got up and been able to warn you before he threw the blade. Instead I couldn't do anything, but watch." His voice was bitter and the frown deepened. "As your friend I should've been there to help you."

"You can't really say it like that since the others are my friends too, and I'm not blaming when saying this, but none of you could've done anything to prevent it from happening," Lucy explained in a soft tone.

"But I'm your best friend!" Natsu snapped. "As a best friend I'm supposed to be there when you're in trouble or need help!"

Lucy stared at him. Why was he getting so worked up over something so small like this? Before she could ask him, he had already walked up to the others as if they'd never had the conversation in the first place.

* * *

That evening Natsu didn't come to visit her as he normally did, as he probably still was upset about what they'd talked about on the way home. Lucy found herself waiting in the living room for an hour before she gave up and went to her bedroom. In there she was shifting the bandage on her hand for the fourth time that day. As she gazed on the cut that went from right to left on her palm, she couldn't help, but notice the yellow color around the cut.

_Maybe I've caught some sort of infection. Maybe I should ask Wendy about taking a look and – no, I can't make her use her magic on something like this, and besides it'll probably go away soon anyway._

With that the mage went to sleep, not thinking more about the day. But she couldn't deny the weird feeling in her hand as if something was trying to move from there out into her arm. It only got worse as she found herself soaking with sweat and her heart beating fast from nightmares she couldn't remember.

And a pain in her chest.

**So.. That was the first chapter. Yay! :D**

**I've been thinking a lot about this story, and now I decided to write it, so thanks for reading it!**

**And please share both good and bad things about it, help is always appreciated ;-)  
So, please review and see you next chapter :D**

**~RememberTheDays**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing the story, it made me really happy! :D I'm updating pretty fast this time because I won't be able to update next week since I'm going on a camp :) **

**And once again I don't own Fairy Tail, honor goes to Hiro Mashima.**

**~Chapter two~**

_Red._  
_She was in a small, dark room. The floor was red along with the walls and it seemed like it belonged there, but also as if it was misplaced. She slowly made her legs move towards the wall, her hand reaching out to touch the crimson color._

'_Don't touch it!' She froze upon hearing a voice behind her. She turned around bit by bit, until she was facing the opposite wall. _

'Someone's there?'_ she called out in the room, but received no answer. She squinted her eyes together, trying to see through the darkness; there in the corner stood an outline of a person. She took a step backward, suddenly feeling scared. _

'Not the shadow,' _she thought frantically. _'If the shadow's here, that means-' _a throbbing in her chest made her thoughts stop. She bended over, taking slow breaths and trying to make the pain stop again. As it started to fade she straightened up, looking suspiciously at the dark form. Every time it was there, the feeling of being suffocated would come too at some point._

'Who are you?' _she asked. The voice was somewhat familiar but she couldn't quite place it no matter how much she thought about it. It was clouded in a layer of great sorrow, making it impossible for her to find a conclusion to the shadows identity. _

'_Don't touch it,' was the only answer she got. She started to get annoyed. She had tried to get respond every night since these dreams started, but the shadow would always reply with the same; 'Don't touch it.'_

'Why? What it is, anyway?' _she almost snapped, but managed to keep herself calm. Never had she asked about that; somewhere inside her, she was afraid of the answer, but now she needed to know._

_The silhouette hesitated to answer for a moment, before it said in a hushed voice; 'Blood.' Lucy couldn't help but shudder at the respond, but now that she had come this far, and actually made the dark 'person' in front of her talk, she wanted to get more information._

_She only wavered for a mere second, before she asked another question; _'Whose?'

_The shadow didn't answer for a long time, and she repeated her question with more force. She could make out the outlines of the shadow as it turned its head away from her. When it spoke the voice was drenched in guilt, sorrow and anger; 'Yours.'_

_As the word came out, the pain attacked her once again, making her fall to the ground and bending together into a ball while she pressed her hands to her chest. She tried to breathe, but found that she couldn't. Again she heard the dark 'person's' voice, this time yelling frantically to her; 'Lucy wake up! You need to wake up!'_

_Then only pain._

* * *

Lucy woke up, panting and drenched in sweat. The nightmares had followed her for four nights strait, and every morning she woke up, sometimes screaming, sometimes not. She knew that there were more dreams before the last one with the shadow, but she could never remember anything, only the last part, where she would be in the small room with the red walls and floor.

_Blood_, she thought to herself. _The voice said it was my blood._ The other nights she hadn't tried to figure out what the crimson thing was; only looked at it before the pain had started. Since then she had started wondering what it could be.

The words echoed in her head, making her shiver.

Though, they didn't mean anything. They couldn't.

She got up and walked to the bathroom; washed herself in the face with cold water, trying to make herself wake up. When she looked in the mirror, she was greeted by a pale face and could see the start of something that would turn into bags eventually. Maybe she slept through the whole night, but the nightmares obviously didn't give her the sleep, her body needed.

Lucy sighed. She looked like a dead person.

She splashed some more water in her face and smacked herself on the cheeks, giving them some color. It got a bit better, though she wasn't fully satisfied. It would have to do at the time being though, since she had to hurry and get some food before heading to the guild. She was determined to make Natsu visit her tonight. He hadn't come over since their last mission, and she was starting to wonder if something was wrong. Normally she'd found it somewhat annoying when he broke in through the window, but now it just felt empty when he wasn't there. Maybe some normal talk with him would also help on her nightmares as well; making her think of something else. She removed the bandage from her hand. It wasn't really a cut anymore, and if she wanted to, she didn't have to tie it up, but the yellow color wasn't exactly the most delicious thing to show in public.

Lucy was about to walk into the kitchen, when the pain in her chest came back. Her breath caught in her throat as she fell to her knees, her right hand pressing on a spot a few centimeters under her collarbone on her sternum. It was gone as fast as it came, leaving her breathless on the floor for a short time. Slowly she sucked in a small breath; when she was convinced the pain wouldn't come back she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air.

She stood up and used the wall as support, her legs too weak to hold her up alone.

"Maybe I should skip the food right now, and just take some at the guild," Lucy mumbled to herself, before she gathered herself together and made her way to Fairy Tail.

* * *

Lucy was greeted at the guild as always by the smiling faces of her friends. Most of them sat at their usual places; Erza eating her cake, Levy trying to make a conversation with Gajeel while Juvia was trying to make Gray notice her.

Looking around, she could find neither Natsu nor Happy. _Looks like they're not here yet, _she thought, and walked to her usual seat at the bar where Mira was talking while drying glasses with a dishtowel.

As Lucy sat down, Mira greeted her with a smile as always. It turned into a frown though when she noticed Lucy's weariness and pale face.

"Are you okay Lucy?" Mira asked worried. "You look tired."

"Hm," Lucy smiled at her. "I just haven't had a good night's sleep for awhile, that's all."

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything Lucy."

"Thanks Mira I'll remember that."

The rest of their conversation was interrupted when the doors to the guild opened, Lucy's eyes immediately finding Natsu and Happy. A smile was plastered on both faces, making Lucy wonder if he actually was alright and just trying to avoid her.

Well after today he would have to come visit her, since she was going to ask him personally, if he and Happy would come to her place tonight and talk.

She got up from the chair and walked towards the pink haired dragon slayer and blue cat. As Lucy walked away she didn't notice the smile playing on Mira's lips, before the woman turned around to serve for the rest of the Fairy Tail members.

"Hey Natsu, Happy" Lucy greeted her best friend and the cat, with a smile on her face.

"Oi … Lucy," the boy looked away sheepishly when he saw who it was, while Happy greeted her with a big 'Lucy'.

"I was wondering if you and Happy would come by tonight for a talk or something," Lucy asked suddenly feeling embarrassed. It sounded like they were going to talk about 'things'. Some of the others in the guild noticed as well, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wakaba give Macao an elbow in the side, both of them smirking. She blushed even harder and looked down on the floor.

Natsu seemed too surprised at her question, but smiled nonetheless, nodding. "Yeah, we'll do that." He was glad, that Lucy wasn't mad at him for evading her. He wouldn't really admit it to himself, but he'd felt lonely these couple of days, when he hadn't talked to the blond mage.

Lucy smiled at his response and turned around to walk with Natsu over to where Erza and Gray were, surprised when she found the knight behind her. She took a step back in astonishment and bumped right into Natsu, who was standing behind her. His hand closed around her arms in a way to protect her from getting overbalance. He let go again when he was sure, that she wouldn't fall.

Lucy took a step forward, trying to get some more space between them.

"We're all out of shape and need to go on job," Erza said to the two mages and cat in front of her. "I've already picked one, and we're heading out in an hour." At that she walked out the doors, going home to pack all her stuff.

"Well, I need to get ready too then," Lucy sighed before turning give Natsu one last smile, then heading out the doors as well.

* * *

Lucy quickly finished packing and was leaving her apartment fifteen minutes earlier than she normally would. It would be a good thing to get out a bit, being with the others.

She was heading for the door, when the throbbing came back, not as painful as before but this time accompanied by a coughing.

She dropped her suitcase and doubled over, taking her hands in front of her mouth. The coughing lasted for some seconds, before Lucy finally was able to stop.

As she moved her hands away, her brown eyes widened in shock. Her hands had spots in a crimson color on them, the liquid still wet.

_Blood._

_My blood._

**Dadadam O_O xD**

**So that was the second chapter in this story. I hope it's not too boring, but I'm still at the point, where I need to explain about what's happening to Lucy ;)**

**I hope you can last until we get over this point xD**

**And please review, everything is appreciated :D**

**Please review!**

**Until next time :D**

**~RememberTheDays**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey again! :) I'm sorry it took so long, there was the camp and then also guests and stuff... But again thanks for reading and reviewing this story, it makes me really happy that you like it :)**

**And once again the honor goes to Hiro Mashima.**

**So here's the chapter, hope you enjoy :D**

**~Chapter three~**

Lucy stared at her hand covered in red, her mind blank except for two words replaying over and over again: _My blood._

She stayed on the floor for a couple of minutes before she slowly got up and walked to the bathroom. The water turned a slight pink as it mixed with the blood while washing it away. She stood for a mere second, before she went to the kitchen to get some water to make the taste of the crimson liquid go away.

_My blood._

Once again she went to the front door, but this time without her suitcase. She had to tell the others about her condition and she knew they wouldn't let her go with them on the job. Natsu might even set the hold assignment on hold, to make sure she got safely to Wendy and he would know what really was happening to her. It would be a typical Natsu-thing.

As she opened the door, she felt a slight pain, but it was gone the moment she closed her door with a soft click.

* * *

Erza and Gray were already at the railway station when Lucy arrived. She tried to find Natsu and Happy in the crowd of people, but they were nowhere to be seen.

'_Weird. Normally they would be the first to arrive'_ she thought just as Erza looked up and frowned at her.

"Where's your luggage?" Erza asked Lucy, pointing at her own wagon of suitcases as if to indicate what she was talking about. Lucy opened her mouth to answer when a yell from behind made her turn around.

"Lucy!" Right there, making their way through the crowd; pushing the citizens away if they didn't move out of the way fast enough, was Natsu and Happy. Natsu was running with something and when he stopped in front of Lucy, she realized it was her bag.

"How did you…?" the blond mage asked, a confused look on her face.

"Well, Happy and I were walking to the station when we saw you. Since you didn't have any kind of suitcase, we figured you forgot it, so we went to your apartment and got it for you," Natsu stated with his usual big grin.

Lucy stared at the bag before she looked at the pink haired boy again. "You… wait… You broke into my apartment again!"

* * *

The next moment Lucy was seated in the train with the others, next to Gray. Erza was sitting opposite them, and Natsu was lying unconscious in her lap. As soon as the train had started driving he had received a punch in the gut from Erza making him collapse. On the little space left on Natsu's seat was Happy.

Why Lucy was in the train she really didn't understand herself. She had decided to tell them, that something was wrong with her, but when Natsu had brought her suitcase, she knew she wanted to go on this mission with them. She could talk with Wendy after the job.

"So, Erza what is this assignment about either way?" Gray asked the knight. As an answer Erza took up the paper with the description of the job and read out loud.

_Help needed. My little boy has been taking hostage by wizards, who must be after his special ability. Please help me get my child back before it is too late! _

_Location: Kiseki town._

_Reward: 300.000 jewels_

"Poor family," Lucy mumbled.

"Hm," Happy agreed with a nod.

"But," the blond mage asked, "What is it with a 'special ability'? Does this kid know any magic or something?"

"I don't know," Erza answered her with a frown. "There is no more information than what I just told you."

They all got the same look of suspicion on their face, except for Natsu who used that moment to wake up and get up from the position on Erza's lap. He looked at them all.

"Are we already there?" he asked. He looked out the window and when he realized they still were on the train his motion sickness returned. He didn't have it for long though as Erza once again punched him in the stomach.

Lucy couldn't help but smile at the scene, before she turned to look out the window. The trees were a blur of green and the skies looked like they were bringing rain. While she looked she could feel the small pain in her chest, but she was determined not to tell about it until after the job.

* * *

Kiseki town was one of the smallest towns Lucy'd ever seen. It was placed in some sort of crack in the cliffy surroundings. It consisted of small houses in brown earthly colors and small fields which were placed in the shadows of rocky outcrops, a few of them with cattle and sheep. The rest were being used for farming, though Lucy found it odd how anything could grow in this terrain. In the middle of the crack, surrounded by the houses was something that looked like… a temple, maybe? Or at least something like that. It seemed newly build, and if she squinted her eyes together, she could just make out the outlines of people, at what had to be the front of the building.

The blond mage turned to the others as they walked up to her, Natsu going up beside her with Happy by his side.

"Kiseki town?" he mumbled scratching his head. "Miracle town. What a praising name." Lucy smiled at his statement.

"It was called Himachi some years ago, but then something amazing apparently happened," Erza said from behind the two mages and cat. "I'm not sure what, but it made the town a very popular tourist attraction for some time. That's why they build the temple down there in the first place."

"Well, let's go then, this heat is starting to annoy me," Gray mumbled starting to make his way down a path which leaded to the town.

"You're starting to melt, ice brain?" Natsu asked in a tone, showing how approving he was of the situation.

Gray gave him a cold glare before he retorted: "It's not all of us, who has already lost all of our brain cells. We need to protect them from the heat so we don't end up like you, squinty eyes."

"Stripper."

"Flame brain."

"I agree with Gray, let's get out of the sun," Erza said in a warning tone making both boy mages freeze. Quickly they put their arms over each other shoulders and put on a big smile. Together Natsu and Gray walked down to the town with Erza right behind them. Lucy was about to follow, when the pain came back again and she started to cough. She covered her mouth whit her hands, trying to make it silent, though she knew Natsu would probably hear it. She tried to make it go away as fast as possible before anyone noticed.

"Are you coming Lucy?" Natsu asked her just as the coughing stopped. Lucy looked up at him and noticed that he was waiting for her while Gray, Erza and Happy had already moved on. For a moment she feared that he had seen her but he only seemed to be confused about, why she hadn't come with the rest of the team yet.

Nodding, she walked to the dragon slayer, while hiding her crimson spotted hand.

* * *

"So what you're saying is that, those wizards took your son because of his special powers?" Erza asked the woman in front of them. After arriving to the little town the team had quickly found the person who'd made the quest. They were now sitting around a table, trying to learn more about their job.

"Yes," the woman, Miss Gakari, replied in a sad voice. She was beautiful with her black hair, dark toned skin and emerald green eyes, though the tears were visible in them. She would be even more beautiful when she smiled, that Lucy was sure of.

"And what is this special power exactly?" Erza asked with a firm, but somehow also soft voice.

Miss Gakari looked at the four mages in front of her and then at the blue cat, which apparently had the ability to talk. They all looked back at the lady, and she knew she could trust them to find her son.

"Maybe some of you already heard of the miracle which happened six years ago… That same miracle is my son, Tsukune" Miss Gakari started, making the team look at her with big eyes, except for Erza of course. "Nearly the instant he learned to talk, he started to tell about these visions he had. When he touched people, he could see what was bothering them and then see the consequences of the actions they would make. He could tell if their decisions were good or bad. If it was bad they could change it themselves by choosing something else, but he couldn't see what would happen after that.  
Still the rumors spread fast and soon citizens from all over Fiore where coming to our small town to see this 'wonder child'. For a time this little place grew in the favor of Tsukune's visions. Therefore he was called a miracle for Himachi, as its name was back then. In the end the temple was build to make the tourists as comfy as possible when they came to see him, so they shouldn't be in this small townhouse."

The mother stopped her mind lost in the memories of the past, before she turned her attention back to the story again.

"It lasted like that until he was around five years old. He started to get nightmares about the horrors he saw in some of the visitors' futures. I wanted him to stop 'reading' the people, but the things he'd seen in his short life, had made him grow up faster than other children, and he insisted that he wanted to help as many as he could, making sure they didn't break their own life with wrong decisions. In the end I had to force him to stop, before he turned mad."

She sniveled as she remembered how he would stare into the sky as if he could see something no one else could, how his mood would shift like the wind, but most of all she remembered his screams in the night as he was plagued by nightmares. Unable to continue she sobbed into her hands.

It was clear for the wizards that she wouldn't continue, but before any of them could say anything Natsu had already moved to sit beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. No one from the team were confused by his action. He might be really dense, but in situations like these with great sorrow, he was able to comfort people better than anyone.

Miss Gakari looked up at him, somewhat surprised, but then managed to give a small, sad smile.

"Most people understood," she slowly started again, "why he had to stop making the sessions. But some didn't and still don't. They came to the house, knocked on our windows, sometimes they would even follow us around until he agreed to 'read' them. It's has been like that until yesterday when he disappeared. The only thing I know is, that it was wizards, because they attacked my neighbor with magic, when he tried to stop them from taking my boy."

She looked at the wizards in front of her as she stopped, before saying one last thing: "Please, please save my little Tsukune!"

Lucy got up from her seat and knelt down in front of the mother, taking her hand.

"Don't worry Miss Gakari, we'll bring him back safe and sound," The blond mage said with a reassuring smile. The other mages smiled to the woman as well, and Happy agreed with a big: "Aye!"

* * *

"You got anything yet Natsu?" Erza asked the dragon slayer. He was trying to catch the scent of Tsukune which he knew from a shirt, they'd borrowed from Miss Gakari.

"Not yet. It's hard with all these new- found it!" He pointed in the direction, east of the town. "That way."

The rest of team followed him through the streets of Kiseki town and into the cliffy areas to the east. There wasn't much talking, because Natsu had to focus to stay tuned on the disappearing scent of the little boy, and nobody wanted to break his concentration.

After walking for half an hour they reached a big house or rather castle. It had the same size as the Fairy Tail guild, though the walls were completely black.

"Well it's not exactly the most discrete hiding place," Gray mumbled upon seeing the house.

"Is this the right place Natsu?" Erza asked ignoring Gray's comment.

"It is," was his simple, but firm answer.

Carefully they all walked inside the house, trying not to make too much noise. The hall was enormous. The walls were decorated with pictures of famous wizards, and a big chandelier was hanging down from the roof. Two double doors were located in each side of the room.

Team Natsu waited for an attack to come, but found the hall empty. Erza was the first to walk towards the middle of the room, but the others quickly followed. When standing in the middle, they were standing right between the two doors. Erza tried to calculate how long it would take to search each of the rooms behind the doors, but according to the size of the house it would take a lot more time than they had, when the hostage was a kid.

"We're going to split up," the knight said. "We don't have the time to search for Tsukune behind one door at the time. The team which finds Tsukune first, will bring him to this exact hall and wait for the other team to come back. The team that doesn't find him, will also come back here, but will go help the other pair if they're not back with Tsukune. You understand?" Everyone nodded.

"Good. Happy you'll go with Natsu and Gray through the door to the left and Lucy and I'll take the door-"

"No," Natsu interrupted her.

Erza frowned at him. "Natsu you're going with Gray and-"  
"No, I'm going with Lucy." The blond mage looked at her friend, confusion written on her face.

_What is he doing?_

Erza stared at him, but Natsu didn't move his eyes from hers. Happy slowly moved away from his friend, afraid to be in the line of what she might do to Natsu at his refusal.

"I'm going with Lucy," he said again, saying it a little bit louder this time. The three team members who weren't included in the confrontation waited for the knight to react with aggression, but were all surprised.

Erza, not wanting to answer, gave him a sharp nod, knowing that she wouldn't be able to make him change his mind. She knew he still blamed himself for not being able to help Lucy on the last mission.

"Then it's settled," the scarlet haired mage said, turning her back to the dragon slayer. "Natsu, Lucy and Happy are taking the door to the right, and Gray and I'll take the door to the left."

* * *

The two mages and cat walked (flew) down the corridor searching for Tsukune in every room they passed, which were many.

The corridor itself was painted in an awful mix of gray and brown color, making it look moldy, where the doors could shift between the same color to completely black or a dark brown. They would find a door every fifth meter on both sides of the hallway, though the rooms behind them mostly were empty. If they had any kind of furniture in them it would a chair or a sofa. At one point they had actually found one with both a chair _and_ a sofa.

As they kept moving on Lucy tried to figure out why Natsu wanted to walk with her. Of course they were best friends, but Natsu almost never went against Erza's decisions and especially not over Lucy herself.

_Weird_, she thought just as the pain in her chest came back. Though trying not to, she winced making Natsu look at her.

"Something's wrong Lucy?" he asked frowning when she stopped walking. She forced herself to forget the pain and instead look up at Natsu. _Is he worried?_

"N-no, sorry, just thinking," she smiled and began walking again, with Natsu beside her. Happy was already up in the front, not really caring about their small talk.

"About what?" he asked now confused. Lucy tried to find an answer and said the first thing she came up with.

"Eh… about why you wanted to go with me instead of letting Erza go." Her tone made it sound like a question, but Natsu didn't seem to hear that. Instead he looked down at his feet turning serious. It took a moment for him to answer, but when he did he looked up and straight into her eyes.

"Because I want to be there to protect you this time."

**And cut! **

**So this was the third chapter, though I had to say it's not really what I was hoping it would turn out like. It has a lot of information and not so much action… sorry if it was abit heavy in the end. But I promise to give it some more power thing-thing in the next chapter, which I'll do my best to post sooner. For now, I hope you can live with this chapter without giving up reading it because it contains so much information… :/**

**And sorry if anyone is OOC, and that they're not included so much in the story. It is about Natsu and Lucy, and though I really love Happy, it can be hard to sometimes find some space for him :(**

**But please review, everything is appreciated! :D**

**~RememberTheDays**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone :D  
So here's chapter four of Crimson Colors, but before I let you read on, I would like to thank ****JyubeiKisanagi****for telling me about some spelling and grammar errors in the story. If you find some please say so and I'll do my best to fix them! ;)**

**And sorry for the delay, school started, mixed with a block… :'(**

**So, all's said and here's the chapter. Enjoy! :)**

**The honor of Fairy Tail goes to Hiro Mashima.**

**~Chapter four~**

"To protect me?" Lucy asked confused. "Is this about the knife-thing?" His silence answered her question perfectly. "I already told you Natsu, that it doesn't matter."

"It matters to me!" Natsu almost shouted, but managed to keep his voice down.

Lucy stood completely silent and looked at him, trying to somehow read what was going through the boy's head.

"You can't always protect me Natsu," she finally said quietly. "Being a mage… it's a dangerous job, but we all know that. It's the kind of occupation that might end up getting you killed, but it's a risk we all take."

Natsu stared wide eyed at her, before he started frowning at her his eyes squinting together. "I would never let anyone die. Never."

"Natsu it's not-"

"Natsu, Lucy," Happy's light voice called. He was already way down the hall and had stopped in front of a big double door. "This is the last door."  
"Good job Happy," Natsu shouted to the blue cat, his mood already lighter. He grabbed Lucy's wrist and started walking towards Happy, dragging Lucy after him. They didn't get far though, as the dragon slayer suddenly turned around and stepped towards the direction they came from, while he let go off Lucy. Slowly he scanned the area, lifting his head and sniffing the air.  
"What's wrong Natsu?" The celestial mage asked alerted.

_Enemies? _

"I don't know," Natsu answered sounding confused. "I smell something, but I'm not sure what it is. It's the same smell that was at Kiseki town, but I didn't really think about it then, since I didn't know the scents in the village at that time. "

Everyone stood still, waiting for someone or something to appear, but after a while Natsu just sighed. "It's fading. I can't concentrate on such a small amount of the scent when I don't know it well. It's blending in with the rest of the smells in this damn castle."  
"We need to find Tsukune soon too," Lucy added making Happy agree with a small nod behind them. She walked to Happy, who was waiting in front of the door. This one was different than the others and not just because it was a double door. No, the color was bright red with a golden symbol on. It looked like a bird with a snake around its body as if it tried to hold it down by locking the bird's wings to its body. Still the bird had somehow managed to get one of its wings free and stretching it. Lucy tilted her head to the side as she analyzed the strange figure. The snake itself was normal, but the bird seemed special.

"Well, let's open it," Natsu said as he pushed the door open and fell back into fighting stance. The celestial mage did the same, brining up her key to summon Taurus if necessary while the blue cat placed itself in mid between the two mages.

The door opened with a loud creek showing a large purple room. The purple curtains covered the windows in the room only letting small stripes of light in. A bed was placed in the left corner with big pillows lining the walls as if to make sure that the person sleeping in the bed didn't hit the wall while resting, teddies were lying on the floor with a sofa placed in the middle of the mess.

Lucy stepped in with the dragon slayer right behind her, feeling the warmth from his hand close to hers. If anything happened he was ready to pull her behind him to make sure she wouldn't get hurt.

Natsu breathed in trying to find a trace of scent that could tell him if anyone was inside the room. He froze and immediately grabbed Lucy's hand, just as one of the curtains was pulled open. For a second Lucy was blinded by the sudden light from the outside world, but as she squint her eyes together she spotted a small figure by the window.

"Who- who's there?" a high pitched voice called out. As her sight began to return, the mage found a boy with black hair and toned skin.

And emerald green eyes.

"Tsukune?" Lucy asked slowly. She tugged her hand away from Natsu and moved towards the boy who covered himself with his arms.

"Yes… who are you?" Tsukune replied a little louder this time.

"We're from Fairy Tail," Happy said from the door. The little boy looked behind Lucy to find the source of the voice and made big eyes when he saw the flying blue cat. Lucy couldn't help, but smile at the reaction.

"The cat over there is Happy," she told Tsukune and started to walk towards him "And the guy with the pink hair is Natsu, and I'm Lucy. You're mom sent us to get you."  
The celestial mage kneeled down in front of the black haired boy.

"Mom-" he started but abruptly stopped as Lucy took his hand. His eyes turned darker and he seemed to be somewhere, where no one else could enter.

"Oi Lucy, what's happening to him?" Natsu asked moving to stand beside the girl.

Lucy shook her head, her eyes filled with worry. "I don't know." She tried to call out the boy's name, but when he didn't respond she tried to shake him by the shoulders.

Tsukune's eyes returned to normal as he snapped out of the trance. He swayed and nearly fell to the floor, but Natsu was quick to place himself behind the boy and support him. Tsukune looked at the floor with big eyes before he raised his face to stare directly and Lucy.

"You-" he didn't get to continue as the wall by the door was blown up in a big explosion. Getting a hold of Happy, Natsu threw himself over the mage and boy, protecting them from the falling wall fragments and some kind of black light that were shot towards them. Instead it hit the back wall and created a massive hole, while it split and turned to shadows that quickly moved across the remaining two walls, back to the dust cloud created by the explosion. As the cloud started to disappear, a woman became visible. She was pale and her lips were painted in a bloody red color; her hair was white and it managed to reach her hips even though it was made in a braid. Her eyes had the same color as her kimono: black, a big contrast to her light features.

Natsu got up, placing himself between the woman and his friends, except for Happy who hovered in the air beside the dragon slayer. Natsu frowned at the female as he breathed in the air.

"You're the one with that smell," He stated. "You've been following us. I smelled you at Kiseki town and in the hallway too."

The white lady smiled at his words before she burst out with a hideous yet feminine laughter.

"I see, so you're the dragon slayer," her voice was filled with what seemed like happiness. "I was hoping to be the one to run into you, and to answer your accusations; no you didn't smell me. What you smelled were my beloved shadows. They've been keeping an eye on you all for a while now."

As she finished speaking, a shadow rushed over the floor from her feet towards Happy. The cat didn't see it as a threat due to the fact that he was flying, but when the shadow stopped under him, it shot out from flooring and grabbed hold of his foot. It pulled him down and he was consumed by the shadow and disappeared into the floor.

"Happy!" The two mages and boy yelled. Natsu's fists lit up while he stared angrily at the white woman.

"What did you do to Happy?" he hissed.

The female smiled with her red lips and made no attempt to hide her satisfaction with the situation; "To the Land of Shadows, where he will experience his worst nightmares."

"You filthy-" Lucy began.

"Lucy take Tsukune and get out of here. Find Erza and Gray," Natsu said in a stern voice, looking at her. "I'll get Happy back."

The celestial mage didn't understand him for a second, but then nodded, knowing that she wouldn't be able to do much to help in the end. She grabbed Tsukune by the hand, pulled him up and dragged him out the hole made in the opposite wall at the room, away from the lady and the leftovers of the door.

"You really think that'll work?" The woman asked as the mage and boy ran through the hole. "I'll just make my get both of them back here. Or maybe I should just kill her and take the little wonder child back."

Around her shadows started to move up the walls and fast towards the hole, Lucy and Tsukune had used. They didn't reach it though, because Natsu used his flames to make the shades dissolve. "That won't get pass me."

"You know, you should really start thinking about your own life. If you don't, you'll end up losing it," the white lady said, just as Natsu felt something wet and cold around his ankles. Looking down he saw another set of shadows taking hold of him and pulling him into the dark.

"Let your own dreams take your sanity, Natsu of Fairy Tail."

**So that was it for now. Again I'm sorry I haven't updated for a long time, but I promise that I'll do it faster next time. I don't know about the chapter really, but it turned out better than I thought it would so I'm still kind of pleased with the result. :)  
So please review and tell me what you think. :D  
~RemeberTheDays**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so this took m almost half an year to update, and I'm sorry. I've been having this major writer's block and haven't been able to find any inspiration. I hope there are still some readers out there, but I can't really blame you if there isn't.**

**To those who still reads it; I have promised myself to finish this story no matter what, so it will be done at some time.**

**On with the chapter.  
**

**Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima **

**~Chapter five~**

'_Run! You need to keep on running, she's coming after you.' _

'But Natsu-'_ she began, but the voice finished her sentence. 'Is not able to help you right now. Right now you need to save the boy as a real Fairy Tail wizard'_

Lucy dragged Tsukune down hallways, through doors and between furniture. She was out of breath and her legs were turning sore, but she kept running. Somehow she felt that the weird voice inside of her head were telling the truth, when it said that 'she' – which Lucy knew referred to the white woman – was coming after them. What she didn't understand was how she'd got past Natsu.

'_Is he okay?'_ she silently asked herself_. _The thought itself made her falter in her steps, and she nearly tripped over a carpet on the floor. It had the same mark that was on the door to the room where Tsukune had been: A bird with one wing stretched out and the other pinned to its body by a snake. The mage managed not to fall over and scolded herself inwardly.

'Concentrate Lucy! You need to get Tsukune out and be a real Fairy Ta- wait.' _Lucy abruptly stopped her track of thoughts and started to call at the voice in her mind instead: _'How do you know I'm in Fairy Tail?'

Then she felt stupid. What was she even talking to? Why would there be someone talking to her inside her head. Well, it could be someone with the same magic as Warren, but she seriously doubted it. Just like the one from her dreams, she knew the voice but couldn't quite place it. And this voice was not the same as the one from her dreams.

As they kept running, Lucy could feel the hair on her arms and neck stand up. The lady was getting closer and she could see on the little boy's face that he wouldn't be able to run much longer. And to make it even worse the mage felt a pressure in her chest, growing more painful the longer they ran.

Normally the mage would have kept running, but she knew that the White Lady would reach them no matter what, so instead she made a turn through a blue door decorated with flowers. Letting go of Tsukune's hand, she quickly grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and placed it under the door knob, making it impossible to open. If she was lucky the enemy mage would think that the door was locked and move on looking for them.

…Lucy didn't believe her, own words for a second.

She had been facing the door while thinking and as she turned around, she found Tsukune starring at her, his eyes filled with utter terror.

The blonde quickly went to the little boy and kneeled down in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"There's no need to be scared," she tried to reassure him. "My friends will be here soon, and then we're gonna go back to your mom."

Lucy expected to get a nod in return, but instead Tsukune spoke up.

"You can't tell them."

Lucy blinked in bewilderment. "What?"

"About your illness. You can't tell your friends about it."

Lucy's eyes winded as she understood his words. The mage's first thought was to try and deny it, but since the boy had found out so fast by himself, she didn't really see the point in trying. Instead she walked to the wall opposite the door and gestured Tsukune to follow her, so they weren't too close to the entrance. If the White Lady decided to blow the door up, the blond wanted neither Tsukune nor herself to be in the line of flying objects.

The blonde leaned against the wall and closed her eyes in exhaustion, while she tried to get rid of the pain in her chest, by massaging her sternum. It didn't work.

"How," she said, opening her eyes to look at the black haired boy. "How did you find out?"

"Back when you, Natsu and Happy came in to my room. You touched my hand, and I saw you. Telling your friends, that you were sick."

"Yeah, that's my plan. I'm gonna do after we've finished this job."

"You can't do that." Through the whole time, not once had Lucy heard or seen the boy display any kind of panic, but now she could hear the fright in his voice.

"So you… 'read' me? And you saw something bad?" Lucy asked in a hushed tone. Somehow she was afraid of the answer.

Tsukune gave a small nod. "Normally I can control my ability, but right now I can't muster up the energy or concentration to do so…"

He paused, but Lucy didn't let him do it for long. She made a nod and waved her hand a as a sign for him to continue.

"You can't tell them because…. Because if you do… everyone's gonna-"

Tsukune's voice should have been drowned in the sound, but Lucy still heard him.

And it made her eyes widen in shock and disbelief.

* * *

"Ugh.." Natsu said rubbing his head as he sat up. After the White Lady had sent her snakes at him, he had fallen into complete darkness. The fall had felt like it would continue forever, but in the end the mage had hit the… ground? He wasn't even sure, because it was so dark that he couldn't even see his hand, when he put it in front of his face. He couldn't even light his fire.

The dragon slayer tried to think of a plan to get out, like his companions would do. He quickly gave up though, since thinking wasn't his strong side. Instead he settled with the fact that he had to find Happy, who had to be somewhere down here, and get out so he could find his best friend and the little guy. He knew well enough, that Lucy was capable of protecting herself and Tsukune, but it still made him nervous. Normally he wouldn't have worried that much, but the celestial mage had seemed weird since they returned from the mission, where Lucy had been cut.

Natsu had also faintly registered the scent of her blood in Kiseki Town, but with so many new smells the pink haired boy had pushed the thought away since she'd seemed fine.

The fire mage started running through the darkness, silently hoping that he wouldn't crash with something. Instead he found something quite else.

A gray area appeared before him, and inside he saw his long lost father, Igneel. Slowly he started running towards the big dragon, his brain trying to phantom why he was here.

As Igneel heard his son approach, he turned around with a disappointed look. Then he disappeared.

"Wait, Igneel!" Natsu shouted into nothingness, as everything turned black again.

"Natsu.." Igneel's voice echoed in the darkness with disappointment and sadness. "I want you to leave.. not now or ever will you be my son."

The words pounded into Natsu's head and sent him staggering backwards. No, this wasn't right. Igneel would never say that. But the mage's own thoughts didn't reassure him. It had been years since he last saw the dragon, and he'd always been wondering what had made his father leave.

Natsu shook his head. He had to remind himself that this wasn't real, that this was a world created by The White Lady.

Trying to think of something else, Natsu ran again, trying to find his blue friend. Not once did he realize that he was being followed. A few meters behind him was a smirking shadow, sucking in the despair of the dragon slayer. As the mage ran, it followed with it's whole presence concealed in the darkness.

* * *

Natsu didn't know how long he'd been running, when he encountered a new area of gray. While running the fire mage had encountered several other images like the one with Igneel. He'd been locked in, and only been able to hear people call his name for help, he'd been thrown out of Fairy Tail and one of them had even been a Gray he couldn't even scratch.

The memory of 'the invisible Gray' made Natsu sulk in annoyance, but the other things sent him back to his silent mode.

Also there was something he couldn't remember - something important.

Natsu slowed down. He really didn't want to run anymore, so walking appeared to be a good option. All the darkness was making him drowsy, and sometimes it even felt as if something was draining him for energy.

Just as the thought popped into his head a new spot was in the nothingness. But this time it wasn't gray, but had the normal color. And it was showing a destroyed Magnolia. A destroyed Fairy Tail.

Natsu's breath caught in his throat, but he moved forward nonetheless.

Fairy Tail's big hall was covered in stones, rocks and dust – and blood. His friends were scattered everywhere – Elfman by the entrance, Jet and Droy at the job board and Laxus on the stage. Many of the others were buried under rocks.

'Splash'

The sound made Natsu turn around. As he did he was facing a severely injured Lucy, blood running from wounds. Her legs were shaking so badly she could barely stand.

"Lucy," he whispered. The said girl made a small smile.

"It's really you, Natsu. You're finally… here," the celestial mage started to fell over, and the dragon slayer rushed to her side, getting dragged down with her as she fell.

"I'm so glad you're here and okay," Lucy whispered, unable to speak louder. Natsu couldn't do anything but hold her. Thoughts were flashing through his mind, but the words were stock in his throat.

The girl in his arms began to close her eyes, and a small 'no' escaped his mouth before her ragged breath stopped. She was still smiling.

That was the most painful. He hadn't been there to help them, but she was smiling, because he was okay. Because he was safe. She should have been yelling, screaming at him, but she didn't. She was smiling.

Natsu's gaze scanned the hall once more, and he could feel his eyes burning, but the tears still refused to come. He couldn't even cry over his family's death. He wanted cry or scream, but nothing came-

He stopped. _That's it_, he remembered. _This is not reality; this is one of my nightmares – one of my fears. None of this is real._

Around the dragon slayer, the sight began to change. Everything disappeared, his friends, the hall, the city itself, but the light remained. And in the light stood a completely black person. He looked like a shadow, and even from a distance, Natsu could see the neutral, yet slightly surprised look on his face.

Natsu got up, his energy now back and on it's highest.

"Who are you?"

"A hunter." The shadow leapt at him, his fingers turning into something that looked like claws.

Natsu lifted his hands to lit them on fire, but nothing came. The mage cursed under his breath, as he ducked from the attack of the shadow. He placed a kick in the black persons face, senting him tumbling to the ground.

Natsu took the opportunity to run and find Happy. Normally he would never run from a fight, but this was different, when his enemy had such a great advantage.

The fire mage sprinted into the darkness once again. This time there were no hallucinations, but in the distance he could hear his exceed cry out. He sped up and found the feline crumbled on the ground, crying his heart out.

Natsu, this time feeling the enemy presence, grabbed his friend and jumped just in time to avoid another attack from the shadow.

The boy clustered the cat to his body, comforting it by telling that it just was a bad dream – like he used to, when Happy was born.

"N-Natsu?" the cat asked looking up at the dragon slayer. Natsu was only able to give a small reassuring smile back, before he had to leap away from another attack.

While weighing his options, he kept avoiding the shadow, trying to make as much distance between them as possible.

He couldn't put Happy down, since the feline probably didn't have any magic in here either and wouldn't be able to fly away if he was targeted. But on the other hand, he had a disadvantage, if he was going to fight with the cat in his arms. He couldn't keep avoiding either. He was lucky that the darkness hadn't consumed this area yet, and this also appeared to be the place with the least magical power. Maybe he could get his magic out here.

"She is most likely already dead," the shadow suddenly said. Natsu stopped in his tracks. "The girl you were together with – she's probably already dead."

"Lucy can defend herself."

"In that state? I doubt it." The shadow laughed - a hoarse, rotten laughter. "I'm one of My Lady's shadow snakes, and I've seen that girl's condition. She can do nothing."

"Shut up," Natsu said in a hushed voice.

"She'll die together with the rest of you fairies."

"Shut up."

"And then Fairy Tail will be destroyed!"

"I said: Shut up!" the dragon slayer yelled illuminating his hands.

Everything was consumed in fire.

**So that was the chapter. I hope it was okay, though it's such a long time since I last updated. I hope there are still some readers out there. **

**And please review, everything is appreciated.**

**~RememberTheDay**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm really glad to see that there is still someone who reads my story, and I hope you will continue and bear with my delays! Here is chapter six.**

**Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. **

**~Chapter six~**

The wall broke down with a loud crash, the whole room getting covered in dust and small rocks flying through the air. Even though Lucy was shocked she still managed to grab Tsukune's wrist and pull him into her embrace to protect him from rocks. The shockwave of the impact between stone and magic made the mage's hair cover her face, almost blocking her sight. But right there, standing in the room's new 'opening' was a dark silhouette. Slowly the face cracked into a wide smile.

As the wind disappeared, The White Lady stepped into the room. Her shadows circled her feet, sometimes crawling up her kimono before falling down 'into' the floor again. It looked like it was trying to reach her face or something like that.

"Found you," she said in playful voice as if it was a game of hide-and-seek. "Now, give me back the little wonder child."

Lucy turned around, making sure to keep the boy behind her. In her hand, she held the key to the gate of the lion.

"What do you need him for?" she asked.

"'Why?' you ask. To make him tell us if our decisions are right, what else?"

"He can't tell you, which decisions to make, only if the choice you're going to make is good or bad," the blond said. "You're aware of that, right?"

The White Lady laughed. Lucy wanted to cover her ears from the sound.

"Of course we do. But we all have one decision each, so he just need to tell us which one is the best," the lady laughed again.

Lucy looked at her, confused. What was she referring to, what kind of decision? Seeing the mage's confused face, the White Lady tilted her head to the side, her mouth half open as she smiled with her eyes big. She looked like a somewhat crazy doll. She lifted her arm to point at the boy behind Lucy.

"Hasn't he told you already?"

The mage turned to look at Tsukune, the question clear. His eyes tried to avoid her firm gaze, but they kept moving back.

"T-they made me look at different decisions on how to a-.. attack Fairy Tail," he mumbled.

Lucy snapped her to look at The White Lady. She still wore the same expression, but with a little more amusement this time. She burst out laughing, then suddenly stopped and looked back at the two persons in front of her.

"Well, now that you know, I'll have to kill you, just like I did with that dragon slayer."

"What did you do to Natsu?" Lucy asked reading herself.

"I sent him to the land of shadows to let it devour him, but I think I want to handle you myself." The shadows around her feet shot over the floor.

"Gate of the lion, I open thee. Loke!" The said spirit appeared in a blinding light, annihilating the moving shadows. Loke stood in his suit with his glasses on and his right hand lifted. The light from Regulus slowly decreased.

Tsukune stuck his head out behind Lucy and looked at the newcomer. The spirit fascinated the little boy. Even though he wasn't a wizard he still held the tiny amount of magic that made him able to have his visions. It also made him able to sense the magic of other beings and Loke, being a celestial spirit, felt different from any other kind of presence the boy had ever felt. Natsu's was defiantly strong, Happy's felt like something from another world and Lucy's-

Just as Tsukune thought about it, he felt a wavering in the said mage's magic. He looked up at the girl and saw an expression of pain crossing her face. His gaze turned to Loke again and then back at Lucy. Tsukune knew about the mage's illness and from the face she'd made it seemed to be the first time she'd called a powerful spirit. Otherwise she would have been able to hide the pain like she'd been doing until now.

The boy silently grabbed Lucy's skirt, slightly tugging at it. The blonde turned to look at him and gave him a reassuring smile, before she turned to The White Lady with a stern look. Loke, taking it as a cue, lunged for the enemy. He aimed a kick for her head, but she dodged with a smirk on her face.

"You might be fast, but not fast enough," she laughed. Her eyes caught Lucy's and she gave her a devilish smile. "I'm faster."

The woman charged towards the blonde and the boy. Lucy held her whip in position, but Loke moved to attack making the enemy jump back to avoid him. While she was still in midair, Loke jumped above her.

"Regulus impact!" Regulus lighted up and covered the stellar spirit's fist. He aimed for the woman's stomach and with no chance to get away; she was smashed into the ground. He landed in front of Lucy and Tsukune, but maintained his fighting stance.

Lucy could feel the pain in her chest rapidly getting stronger. She clenched her teeth together, to contain herself from showing it on her face. Tsukune'd noticed it when she summoned Loke, and if she wanted to make sure, that Natsu and the others didn't find out about her condition she had to learn to keep her face neutral. On top of that she had to think of some solution to the fact, that Loke probably could feel the wavering in her magic power, just as clear as she could.

A laugh from the ground made Lucy focus on the problem in front of her.

The White Lady rose from the ground, a smile plastered on her face.

"Impressing. Not many are able to lay a single hand on me. But, " she giggled in a way, that sent a chill down Lucy's spine and making her take Taurus key out of the wallet. "Playtime is over now."

* * *

Erza stopped again and looked in the big hallway. Something or someone had been following them for some time now, but whatever it was it hadn't decided to show up yet. Gray was walking in the front and looked behind every door they passed. There hadn't been much to see, and the only thing interesting they had occurred so far was a symbol of a bird with a snake around it.

"You know," Gray said stopping. "I've been wondering why you let that flame brain convince you to let him go with Lucy." The ice mage stuffed his hands in his pockets, as he looked at Erza. Her eyes connected with his.

"Because he wants to be there to protect Lucy after what happened," she simply explained and walked past him. He started walking behind her in a relaxed pose with his hands behind his head, but he was still obviously tense. He could also feel the presence of someone else.

"Yeah, I get he wants to protect her, I mean everyone would want to protect a friend," Gray commented drily. "But I don't get why it's so important to him."

"It's something that might not be there after all, but try seeing Natsu's life for you. He was close to Igneel – he lost him. He was close to Lisanna – he lost her, and yes she came back, but he still felt the pain when she disappeared. When we fought Jellal, I was the one who almost left, and I also think that he's afraid you'll disappear someday too." Erza stopped talking and looked at Gray, to see if her words maid any sense to him. He nodded to make her continue. "Lucy managed to get close to Natsu in no time at all, and he's doing his best to make sure that she'll stay here." Erza made a little smile. "Even if it's not more than a friendship, I believe that Lucy will be the one to stay by Natsu and not leave him to nothingness."

"What a moving speech."

The voice made both mage's turn their attention to the long corridor that stretched out in front of them. A person clad in a long black cloak ornamented in patterns of silver. The hood covered the face of the stranger, and made it impossible to even see if it was a male or female, but by the voice it seemed to be a man.

The temperature lowered around Gray, as he made ready to use his magic and Erza equipped to her sword.

"Oh no, don't worry about me," he said in an amused tone. "My fellow and I were only sent to keep an eye on the boy until he was no longer needed. After that out job was to observe you. But it seems like Asuta didn't want to follow the orders. "

"Who are you talking about?" Gray asked.

"The importance right now is not of whom I am talking about, but the fact that if you do not hurry, Lucy Heartfilia will leave the dragon slayer's side a bit earlier than expected. Now as a farewell I would normally bow and take of my beloved hat, but since I'm neither allowed to wear my hat in this situation nor show you who I am, I will only tell you goodbye in the formal manner of words; I bid you farewell Erza Scarlet. Gray Fullbuster."

"Wait, you little-" Gray yelled, using his ice lance. The ice speared the black cloak, but the man was gone.

Erza swore under her breath, but a loud crash made her freeze. Remembering the man's last words about Lucy, she ran in the direction of the sound with Gray close behind her.

* * *

Lucy breathed hard, exhausted from having two spirits out at the same time. Both Taurus and Loke were fighting hard, but even the task of protecting Lucy and Tsukune was hard with the speed of that woman. It even seemed like she found their struggle amusing.

"You can never defeat me," she laughed. She was cut off when a familiar voice shouted Lucy's name.

Erza and Gray stood in the doorway, already in their fighting stance.

"Ih, I'm popular today," The White Lady mused.

"Asuta," Erza said both as a question and a statement to the obvious.

"Since you know my name, you must have met my friend. I really want to tell you his name, but I'm not allowed to. Oh, well I guess I can say when you're all just about to die."

The shadows at her feet started to move around in a circle, slowly getting faster.

"I will let my shadows finish you of; let them devour the light in your hearts," Asuta laughed. Her shadows moved towards all the people in the room. "Now die!"

The floor was blackened by the shades. Loke and Taurus tried to block them, but was send back to the spirit world, when the shadows touched them. Lucy pushed Tsukune behind her and could hear her teammates shouting her name. They could get away from the attack since they still were in the hallway. She was in a death end.

"I'm really getting mad now!" Natsu's voice shouted into the room. The floor in the middle of the room started to crack and then blew up. The dragon slayer appeared from the floor – together with Happy, who flew over to Lucy – and sent an enlightened fist at Asuta's face. The shock of seeing the mage come out of the floor – and the shadow world – made her hesitate for a moment and that was enough for Natsu to make contact with her face. She staggered back, and her shadows stopped their attack. Erza, Gray and Natsu attacked her, but she was still too fast for any of them to hit, though it made it impossible to counterattack.

"I think, I've enjoyed enough of you company for today," she said while dodging another kick from the dragon slayer. "Bye bye." The living shadows covered her and pulled her into her own shade, and then she was completely gone.

* * *

The wooden door slowly opened up with a loud creak. Miss Gakari stood in the hallway and her face lightened up, as she saw her son between the magicians and cat. She pulled Tsukune into her embrace and hugged him and kissed him on his face.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much." The Fairy Tail members smiled to her. They were about to leave after collecting their reward, but Miss Gakari stopped them.

"Please stay one more night; we're holding a banquet to celebrate Tsukune's return." Erza looked at the rest of the team and then nodded to the woman.

"Thank you, we appreciate it."

While the rest of the team enjoyed the thought of a party and some sleep before the journey back home, Lucy also had her own reasons. It had been more exhausting to use magic than ever and she wasn't sure if she could make it home without showing that something was wrong, before she'd rest.

She walked into the bathroom and washed her face to make the exhausted expression vanish from her face. Lucy looked at herself in the mirror, and was about to leave the bathroom, when she started coughing violently. She used the sink as support as she coughed crimson red liquid into the sink. It was her luck, that the others had already left to go to the party or else she might had been discovered.

The thought made her think about what Tsukune'd told her. She couldn't be discovered, she absolutely couldn't.

"_You can't tell them because… because if you do…_ _everyone's gonna die."_

**That's the end of the sixth chapter, I hope you liked it. About updating I will try and do it every second week – earlier if I can – but as I said, I will finish this story.**

**Tell me what you think, anything is appreciated.**

**~RememberTheDay**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for all the reviews, it always makes me really happy when people like my story!**

**Now here's chapter seven, hope you'll enjoy.**

**Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

**~Chapter seven~**

_Red. The red color was constantly haunting her in her sleep. Red water falling from a gray sky, people lying in puddles of red and sometimes just red. A deep red color surrounding her with no exit. Sometimes she would run around inside the red maze, panicking and desperately calling for her friends. There was never an answer and when she couldn't run anymore she would fall to the ground and lie there until she woke up. Before she couldn't even remember these dreams, but somehow she could now. It was the worst nightmares she'd ever experienced, but the worst was still the dark room covered in a crimson color. _

'My blood' _Lucy reminded herself. _

_She stood in the exact room at the moment, but where she'd normally walked to the wall and reaching for the red substance, she now stood her ground in the middle of the room. If she didn't attempt to touch the wall, maybe the shadow person wouldn't call out to her. That was the thing that frightened her the most. To hear a person talk about you in such a sad voice and telling that the thing on the wall is your own blood. And if she ever lost that much blood she would surely die. A scary thought which reminded her of the emptiness and loneliness in the completely red dream. _

_Lucy sat down on the floor, resting her head on her knees. She tried to squeeze her eyes together and pinch herself but little did it help. She had to wait until the others woke her up or she woke up in a normal way. Though it apparently also woke her up, when the pain in her chest became too much, but she'd rather wait than feel that. _

_She closed her eyes and sighed. The others would probably wake her up soon. Right? _

'Please let me out of here soon,' _She mumbled into the silence. She didn't expect any kind of response and was surprised when a sound echoed throughout the room. Looking up from her position, she saw small pieces of the wall falling down on the floor. Her eyes grew had never happened before and the blonde was unsure of whether it was a good or a bad thing._

_The wall shook violently as if something had hit it and Lucy yelped. A crack started to appear on the wall, growing wider with every 'hit'. She got up from the floor and moved backwards, away from the wall. She couldn't really figure out what was going on, but there was defiantly something outside the room and it wanted to get in._

'_Lucy'. _

_The mage snapped her head to the right and saw the silhouette of a person standing there. It was the same as it had been the other times she'd the dream, but the voice was defiantly different from the one she'd heard when she was with Tsukune._

'_Lucy, run. Get out of here.'_

_The pain spread out through her chest and she clenched her teeth together. Her best choice was to listen to the 'person' but the problem was how to get out._

'There's no door',_ she said through the pain. It grew worse and her breath started to become shallow. _

'_Get out'._

'I don't know how-'

'_Now!'._

* * *

Lucy opened her eyes and shot up from the bed. She didn't get far though, as her forehead collided with Natsu's. She fell back into the bed and the dragon slayer fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"What are you doing, Natsu?" Lucy said in an irritated voice while sitting up in the bed and rubbing her forehead. The boy sat in a similar position on the floor with a cranky look on his face.

"I was trying to wake you up," he said looking at the spirit mage.

"And you had to hover all over me to do that?"

"Well, since you wouldn't wake up when I just shook your arm, and you started to throw around on your bed, I thought you had a cold or something."

"Oh..". Lucy looked down a bit before she turned her eyes up to meet the dragon slayer's again. "I just had I nightmare that's all," she said, smiling to her friend. He looked at her, a small confused frown on his face.

"Do you've nightmares often recently?"

"What?" Lucy asked. She tried to hide her shock, but she was pretty sure that she failed. Had Natsu discovered her illness at some point?

"You just look a bit tired," he shrugged. Lucy first thought was to say no, but chose to use it as an excuse instead.

"Yeah," she mumbled. She looked at the boy and hoped the answer was enough for him to drop the topic. She really couldn't let him know how tired she'd gotten since her illness had showed up.

"So these dreams," Natsu said in a stern voice, making Lucy worry even more. "Are you being chased by a ghost?" He made a big, creepy smile and gestured with his hands, by moving his fingers up and down. He changed his voice, so he sounded like a witch from an old fairy tale and Lucy couldn't help but laugh, and Natsu joined her shortly after.

"Good, you're happy again," The pink haired boy said to her, a big smile on his face. "It doesn't suit you when your smile doesn't reach your eyes."

Lucy looked surprised for a second before she smiled back at him. That was just like Natsu to do that.

"Oh and Erza called Gramps about the thing Tsukune said yesterday, so we're going home when you're ready," the dragon slayer said getting up from the floor. "I'll go downstairs while you get ready".

Lucy nodded and got up from bed. She heard a small click when Natsu closed the door to the room. She looked at the other three beds in the room. The party yesterday had been pretty big for such a little town, but they also had a lot of money from Tsukune's 'readings'. When Tsukune crossed her mind she came to think of the rest he'd said.

Time and strategy of their attack, he knew it all.

The only reason the team had stayed to join the party was because Tsukune'd said that Asuta and the rest of her guild only would attack in at least three weeks. Also the others said that they wanted a rest before heading home, though Lucy suspected they'd only said that because she seemed tired. That was probably also the reason they had let her sleep.

Lucy washed her face and looked herself in the mirror. She had big bags under her eyes, her face was getting paler every day, and somehow it looked like she was getting thinner. The only thing that looked a little bit better was the scar on her hand, which at least wasn't yellow and infected anymore. Now it was just a typical scar stretching across her palm.

The mage went into the main room and packed her stuff before heading to the door.

The little constant pain in her chest grew a slightly but she kept walking.

* * *

"What do you mean we can't ride the train back home," Natsu said annoyed.

"The railway is currently damaged and it has not been repaired so far. There will probably go four or five more days until the trains can drive on it again." The conductor apologized.

"Okay we understand," Erza answered in her normal cool voice. She grabbed Natsu in the collar and pulled him away from the ticket counter while Lucy, Gray and Happy followed her willingly. She stopped outside the train station.

"We can't wait so long before we go, so what now?" Gray said asking the question the rest of the group had in mind. They all turned to look at Erza, Natsu still with a grumpy face.

"They don't have any magic vehicles in this town either so I think our only option is to walk home. It'll probably take a day, but I got food and blankets in my luggage so we should be able to manage," she answered, but then looked at Lucy with a silent question. When the mage understood her gaze she shook her hands in front of her.

"It's okay, really, we'll just do that. The only reason I look so tired is because of bad dreams," the blonde explained.

The redhead locked eyes with the spirit mage, trying to find something that went against the own girl's words. Lucy kept her eyes locked and didn't budge even though she knew Erza was a lot more skilled at the 'starring-other-people-down-until-they-say-something' skill, but she somehow managed to make the other mage believe her.

"….Okay then it's settled. Let's go."

Lucy relaxed and began to walk along with Erza, when she felt a pair of eyes looking at her. Turning, she saw Gray looking at her. She smiled to him, which made him smile in return and start walking too. Happy flew up the blonde and began a serious conversation about which fish was Lucy's favorite.

Meanwhile Natsu found it weird that nobody else noticed the slight difference in the girl's feature as if something was causing her pain.

* * *

The darkness came sooner than the group had expected and they made a small camp beside a big forest. Erza was quickly to delegate the work between them – Gray and Lucy was going to find wood while Natsu, Happy and herself would stay back and make the beds. Gray'd tried to make the redhead realize that he could just cut one of the branches from a nearby tree and use, but the woman insisted that it was an amazing opportunity to try the life as a normal camper who didn't posses any magic power. Except for using Natsu's fire to turn a bonfire she refused to use any kind of magic. When the ice mage had tried to insist, she'd send him a glare and he'd swiftly turned around and walked into the forest. Lucy had obediently followed the order and followed the boy.

Now she wished she'd supported her teammate a bit more. The dark forest sent a chill down her spine and the shadows freaked her out. There had been too many shadow thing for the next couple of days, and she really didn't like being alone after all her dreams. Gray was close by of course, and if she wanted to she could probably get to him in ten seconds. But she stayed where she was and collected wood, set on the thought of proving that she was alright.

She bent down to get another stick and when she got up again she almost screamed. In front of her stood a person with a long black coat with silver patterns. She recognized him to be the person, who Erza and Gray had described and backed away from him. She was about to get one of her keys, when he suddenly disappeared and then reappeared right in front of her. Her back hit a tree behind her and she was caught between the trunk and the stranger in front of her. He was higher than her and looked down on her under his hood. He moved his hand up her arm and placed it under her chin and lifted her head.

"Such beauty," he whispered. Lucy wanted to use her magic or at least call for help, but couldn't. She didn't know how, but somehow he'd made her unable to speak. He was defiantly dangerous. "So beautiful, but also so fragile like a flower. A flower just waiting to be crushed." His voice changed on the last words. It got darker and kept an unspoken threat.

"Shall I crush you, little flower? Shall I make your pain go away?" he asked in a somewhat pitying voice.

Lucy opened her mouth, but then he was gone. He left no trace behind and it made the mage wonder if he'd ever been there. She took a deep breath before she walked over to Gray to stay by him and collect more wood.

She didn't want to be alone.

* * *

When Lucy and Gray got back to the rest of the team, the beds and preparation for food was ready. She and Gray placed the wood on the ground and Natsu lit it with his fire.

"Did you see anything interesting inside the forest?" Erza asked still sticking to her camper mood. Gray sighed before he answered her.

" Two squirrels, a bird nest and a hell lot of thorn bushes."

"What about you Lucy?" Erza said turning to the blonde. Lucy considered to tell about the 'hood-guy' but decided not to. It would cause too many questions.

"The same except for the squirrels. I saw a hare though."

The red haired mage nodded in excitement, but made no further move to talk more about the forest. The rest of the evening went by with them talking about the food, the trip back home and then a minor fight between Gray and Natsu, which Erza ended pretty quickly. No one mentioned the oncoming attack.

* * *

The bed consisted of a waterproof sleeping pad, a pillow and blanket. Everything was taken from Erza's suitcase and it only proved that she was ready for everything when she went on missions. Lucy tried to fall asleep but couldn't because of the cold. She was the only one infected since it wasn't actually that cold, but she couldn't stop shivering. Her illness had already made her weaker than she thought and it was showing off through her inability to keep her own body warm.

She cuddled into the blanket and closed her eyes.

Suddenly she felt a pair of strong arms around her and she almost panicked, fearing that it was the hood-guy.

"You're freezing, Lucy," Natsu mumbled into her ear. "I can hear you teeth clatter."

Lucy stopped moving for a moment. She hadn't expected him to hold her like that and she couldn't decide if she thought it was a good or bad thing. But it made her feel warmer.

"Sorry," she said moving a bit away from the boy to have more space between them.

"It's okay," he said pulling her back into his warm chest.

**I guess this is something you'd normally call a filler chapter, since the trip home isn't something big itself, but I also wanted to have some nalu and it was an opportunity I ended up taking. Still, I hope you liked it.**

**Well, tell me what you think, everything is appreciated.**

**~RememberTheDay**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's chapter eight, and I'm really sorry I'm late, I'll try doing it faster the next time! Well, hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. **

**~Chapter eight~**

'_Get out Lucy. Now!'_

The spirit mage's eyes shot up, and she found herself staring into the bright morning sky. She was breathing hard, her heart beating fast and cold sweat was covering her back. She tried to sit up, but only managed to get a little of the ground, before an unknown weight gently pushed her to the ground again. Lucy blinked confused and turned her head to look at the object around her waist: A muscular arm with slight tanned skin and a thick, black wristband.

Lucy's eyes widened with realization. But she was sure that last night had been a dream of some sort. She turned her body around – slowly so she didn't move the arm around her – and stared directly into the face of the pink haired dragon slayer. He was sleeping, his face relaxed and his breathing slow and steady with a light snoring.

So it hadn't just been a dream last night, when Natsu'd laid down beside her. Not that she was about to complain, since it'd helped keeping her warm, but she still found the gesture odd. And on top of that, she was – for some kind of weird reason – painfully aware of the boy's body heat surrounding her and the firm beat of his heart under her hands, which were placed on his chest, to make sure she wasn't crushed against his torso, since the dragon slayer was trying to pull her closer.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered under her breath. The only response she received was a little twitch of his nose. She tried whispering his name again, but this time Natsu didn't even seem to react. "Natsu, wake up." When he still didn't budge she glared annoyingly at his face. She poked him in the chest, making him grunt in answer. She did it again. And again.

In the end she was poking him with all her might at a fast pace. All her pokes were met by the same grunt as the first time, and with the speed-pokes it ended up being a long hum.

And then Gray, Erza and Happy was standing beside Lucy, starring down at the scenery before them. Lucy knew from the looks on their faces what they thought it meant, and it made her blush hard.

"No, you misunderstand." Lucy began desperately. "This is not what it looks like at all. It's Natsu he thought I was cold so he laid down beside me. I have nothing to do with this at all." Her statement was met by silence until the blue cat opened his mouth.

"They liiiiiiiiike each other," he made a big smile at his own words, and the spirit mage would have crushed him if it wasn't for her incapability to get up. Instead she glared at the exceed before she turned her gaze to look at the others.

"So when did you get up, I didn't think we would leave this early?"

"Are you kidding?" Gray asked pointing at Natsu. "It's impossible to sleep with that thing making so much noise.

"I have to agree with Gray, but Lucy is something the matter? You look uncomfortable." Erza asked narrowing her eyes. She had, of course, also noticed Lucy getting paler each day. The said mage recognized the look on the red head's face, but used her current situation to cover up.

"Yeah, he's beginning to suffocate me, but he won't wale up." Erza didn't seem satisfied with her explanation, but let the argument fall either way. She knelt down beside Natsu, turned him a little, so he was lying on his back, but he still held on to Lucy. She raised her right hand and used the other to keep him in place. Then she punched him in the stomach.

His arms and legs shot up from the ground at the impact, his eyes opened wide and a spluttering sound. But it was effective and Lucy was free. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head. The morning sun hit her back, and even though she still felt a bit cold, it was nothing compared to yesterday.

Natsu's limbs fell to the ground once again, and he looked completely broken.

"Oi, Squinty Eyes, pull yourself together," Gray commented drily. He was carrying a pile of wood for the bonfire he'd gotten from the forest. His words seemed to work, because Natsu quickly jumped to his feet, and was in front of the ice mage's face the next moment.

"You said something, Stripper?"

"You really piss me off, Flamebrain."

"You little-," Natsu lit his fists on fire and Gray brought his hands back, ready to use his ice make magic.

But before they had any chance to start a fight, Erza grabbed the dragon slayer by his scarf and pulled him toward the stack of wood – he didn't protest (much) when she pointed at it to indicate that she wanted him to make a fire.

After that they were quickly to make food – fish for Happy and meat for the other mages – and packed their things, readying to move on.

Shortly after they were on the road again. Lucy was behind the others and looked at the ground while she thought about her dream. Just like last night, she'd dreamed about the red room. The shaking from the outside had still been there, but she still didn't have any clue what it could be. All of it was plain creepy, and of course she was scared, but somehow that thing outside the room in her dream, frightened her even more than any of the other dreams. It felt unnatural, invading. Dangerous. It wasn't supposed to be there.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when her best friend threw his arm over her shoulder. She hadn't even noticed him and Happy stop discussing the difference between fish species.

She looked at his face, but quickly turned away when she thought about the morning.

"Oi Lucy, sorry about this morning," his words made her look up again. His face was honest and for a second it made her believe that maybe, just maybe, he'd finally realized that he'd crossed her personal space?

"I guess I was too tired to wake up in a normal way." Or maybe not. He didn't apologize for suddenly laying down beside her in the middle of the night, not because he broke into her apartment at home or because he ate all her food. He apologized because she couldn't wake him up.

She didn't know what to do about this guy, but in the end she just sighed. Natsu was Natsu and there wasn't anything to do about it. And she didn't want to change him either way.

"Guess so," she said smiling.

"But it helped didn't it?"

"What?"

"When I held you, it helped didn't it? With the cold?" He grinned grew wider and she felt a small blush spread over her cheeks.

"Yeah it did, but I still don't understand why you did it," she mumbled. Wouldn't you normally only do that to a person you had a fling with? Or at least felt something for? But you could never know with that dense dragon slayer and standard norms wasn't exactly his thing.

"Why?" he asked in bewilderment. "Because you're my friend of course. What else?" She didn't know how to react to his dumbness – how would he ever find a girl. She decided to brush it off. Incredible really, how used she'd gotten to his behavior over time.

"Oh, nothing," she said. "Just wondering." Natsu leaned in to take a better look at her suspicious face, and Lucy leaned away, trying not to get too close, though it was hard, when his arm still was over her shoulder.

Happy flew from his spot beside Gray in front, back to Natsu and Lucy a smile on his face.

"They liiiiiik-," he was cut off when Lucy grabbed his tail and pulled him to her body, a hand clasped over his mouth. Then she ducked under Natsu's arm and ran up to the others.

* * *

Magnolia was buzzing with life as always, when the group arrived. They made their way through town to their guild. Though Lucy'd gotten used to the new building sometimes she would still get sad over missing seven years of her life.

The doors burst and Natsu and Happy jumped through the door.

"Oi, everybody, we're back," he cheerfully shouted. He was only met by waves and hellos through the guild as usual, but something seemed different. Natsu hesitated in the doorway and sniffed the air.

There was a new smell. He found the source in the back of the room: A man with dark messy hair, dark eyes and tanned skin. And Cana and Evergreen's new favorite. They were sitting a little too close to him for it to be appropriate, especially Cana since Evergreen still had to keep some distance because of her almost-relationship with Elfman. Everyone in the guild knew they had something, but they still refused to admit it apparently.

The new guy caught Lucy's eyes over the guildmembers. He held it and in the end Lucy was the one, who looked away. He smirked at her reaction.

Gray was mt by Juvia in the doorway as she cried of happiness, finally seeing her Gray-sama again. "Yeah, right," Gray said trying to make her let go of him. "Who's that guy over there?" He nodded in the direction of the newcomer and Juvia turned her head to look.

"Oh, that's Kane. He joined the guild a few days ago, a day or two after Gray-sama and the others left," she explained.

Erza was the first in the group to take initiative to welcome him, and walked to stand behind him. He gracefully got up from his seat and took her outstretched hand.

"Erza," she said. "Erza Scarlet."

"Kane Tori. It's a pleasure to finally meet the famous Titania," he said with a smirk. Wasn't he able to smile normally?

Next it was Gray to introduce himself and after that Lucy walked up to him.

"Hey, I'm Lucy," she said and then added "Heartfilia."

"Nice to meet you Lucy," Kane said, took her hand and kissed it. Her face became completely red and she snatched her hand away and moved to make space for Natsu. Kane stretched his hand out to the dragon slayer, but Natsu didn't take it.

"My name's Natsu," he said, and when he made no further attempt to tell his last name, Kane shrugged and let his hand fall.

"Nice to meet you _Natsu_," he put extra pressure on his name to indicate the informality of not telling his full name. "My name's Kane Tori."

"I heard you the first three times."

The guild had become quiet by then, and they were all watching in surprise and confusion. Natsu didn't normally act that way to other people.

The silence was broken by Happy, who flew over to the newcomer and gave him his paw for a handshake.

"I'm Happy," he said, completely unaware of the tension between the two boys.

Kane moved his gaze from the pink haired boy to look at the cat.

"Nice to meet you Happy."

Happy smiled at him before he turned to his best friend. "Natsu can we go home with our stuff now?" he asked.

"..yeah," Natsu said after a slight hesitation. "Let's go home, Happy." He turned and walked out the guild followed by the bewildered eyes of his guildmates. Lucy stood confused while she heard the others talk about the dragon slayer's abnormal behavior.

A pat on her shoulder from Erza got her back to reality.

" He's probably just tired or hungry, it's been some long days with everything going on," she said. "You should go home as well and rest, so you're ready when the attack will find place." Her gaze turned hard at the mention of the upcoming war.

"What about you then?" she asked.

"I'm going to report to Master Makarov about everything we've seen. I would've liked you all to come with me, but you seem very tired and I don't think Natsu's coming back before tomorrow." The blonde knew she probably looked bad, because she'd been tired and felt pain most of the day, and even though she wanted to she wasn't that good at hiding it yet – which she defiantly had to learn before it got worse.

Lucy took her suitcase and thanked her before she went over to Levy to greet her and then home. On the way she summoned Plue and they walked home together as they always did.

* * *

Lucy put her suitcase down and looked around in her room. It looked almost as she'd left it except for some of her books which were lying on her bed. It could only be Natsu and Happy's doing from the time when they broke in to get her suitcase. The mage sighed by the thought of the two of them. They were absolutely uncontrollable. She set the books back and unpacked her things before she went to kitchen to get some food. She was about to open the fridge, when the pain came rolling over her. She staggered back and hit the kitchen table. She used it to support herself as her legs wobbled and threatened to give away under her. Plue ran from the living room into the kitchen and patted her leg, while he expressed his worry through his sounds. Lucy coughed hard and brought her hand to her mouth. She felt the sticky substance of blood on her hand.

Plue kept on holding on to her leg and he still did it when she stopped coughing.

"Plue plue?" the spirit said from the floor. Lucy smiled.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said.

She removed his paws from her leg and washed her mouth before she went to get her pajamas on. No food for her tonight.

She brushed her teeth in the bathroom and when she reinterred her living room-and-bedroom, she was met by Natsu and Happy sitting on her bed.

The girl cursed inwardly for forgetting that the dragon slayer and exceed were coming over today. But he hadn't been at her apartment for a while now, so she wasn't about to send him home. Instead she saw her opportunity to ask about his behavior earlier that that.

But he was faster than her.

"Is something wrong Lucy?" he asked eyeing her suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, though she had a pretty good idea of what he was talking about.

"You been all pale and tired and non-Lucy like."

"Um…sorry?" was Lucy's only answer as she looked at him. Natsu shook his head.

"You're such a weirdo," he said still shaking his head, but then stopped and looked directly at her. "And Lucy? Why does your whole apartment smell of blood?"

**Dadadam..!**

**Okay so, that's it for this chapter, I hoped you liked it even though there wasn't much action. But since the war is soon so is the action. Yeah!**

**But, well, tell me what you think everything is appreciated.**

**~RememberTheDays**


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